McGuireWoods London partner Matthew Hall penned a May 7, 2020, column for The Times on how British and EU regulators are determined to make sure that antitrust and competition law will not become part of the COVID-19 problem, but will be part of the solution.
Hall, a member of the firm’s Antitrust, Trade & Commercial Litigation Department, wrote that “state aid rules are flexible enough to allow necessary government funding to be channeled to business.” In addition, despite the normal limitations on coordination and information exchange between competitors, those rules “will not get in the way of cooperation to ensure essential products and services are available.”
“The Competition and Markets Authority in Britain has produced guidance on cooperation issues — like the European Commission for the EU — and both are open to discussions,” he wrote. “The guidance makes it clear that absolutely necessary, short-term cooperation on supplies is acceptable and enforcement action will not be taken.”